SEO Trends to Watch in 2017

Not only do you need to have an amazing website with great content that is user friendly and visually appealing, but the SEO behind the scenes is incredibly important to the success or failure of a company’s website. Here we share some of the growing SEO trends that the staff at Red Technologies believes will be significant in 2017.

Voice search on the rise Voice search is one of the biggest trends of the digital age and is one of the fastest-growing search options. Massive improvements to Siri, Google Now, Cortana and the latest Amazon Echo products have greatly reduced the error rate of voice searches. This has made voice search an appealing option as it’s hands-free, fast and futuristic.

The goal for 2017 is to go beyond voice recognition to voice understanding. SEO marketers should think beyond text-based searches and examine voice innovation in 2017. Voice searches will be more of a conversation. Where one used to search for “best Mexican food,” they might now search for “nearest Mexican restaurant serving Tostados.”

Optimization for user intent Keywords will always be important, but these days consumers know exactly what they’re looking for and are entering full queries or phrases into search engines. Those search engines are also getting better at identifying user intent and provide results more effectively. Because of this, brands will need to optimize their digital content based on intent rather than specific keywords.

Red Technologies believes your 2017 SEO strategy should involve investigating what users are searching for that brings them to your page and then making sure your content answers the questions users are asking. You may find that you need to alter your content to meet the needs of the reader and to boost your ratings. Be sure to keep up with analytics to see what’s working and what isn’t and adjust accordingly.

Cross-channel marketing Cross-channel marketing means establishing a presence on more than one platform, or using several channels to market your brand in an integrated way. For example, if you browse products on a mobile app and decide not to buy, you might see later an ad for that same product on social media. Cross-channel marketing is an extension of multi-channel marketing with a primary goal of creating a consistent brand presence across multiple channels so that users can move seamlessly between devices and platforms to make a purchase.

Cross-channel marketing is only effective if you know your target audience and their consumption habits. The big challenges for businesses are knowing what the right message is, finding the right time to release it, and using the correct channel. Although there are several tools and resources to help, cross-channel marketing is still in the infancy stages. As consumers continue to be more connected than ever, the need for quality cross-channel marketing will continue to be in high demand throughout 2017.

Increased mobile growth Mobile accessibility has reshaped SEO over the past few years. It is growing at a rapid pace with no signs of slowing down. Many websites are getting the majority of their traffic from mobile devices as traffic distribution has been shifting away from desktop.

On May 2015, Google reported that mobile searches had surpassed desktop searches on its search engine. Since then, the company has taken many steps which signal that mobile should be considered as the default user experience (over Desktop). Because of this shift, mobile optimization is extremely important in SEO strategies and we expect it to become mandatory for businesses to succeed in 2017.

Secure sites will be favored more When Google announced that mobile searches had surpassed desktop searches, it increased the importance of security. The HTTPs tag will help your site rank higher and will have greater prominence over sites without it. Google says, “People feel safe when they see HTTPs beside the domain name. We want to respect it.” Your site may have excellent content, but no HTTPs will keep you behind the curveball. Move your site to the secured domain and boost your SERP ranking for success in 2017.

Social content may emerge as a new SEO strategy When you search for a company on Google, its Facebook or Twitter page often comes in the first two options. This shows a growing trend in users favoring social content more than the content on the company’s own website. We expect this to become a new ranking technique in the upcoming years. So, focusing on your social posts along with your website’s SEO factors will improve your chances of topping the charts.